Singapore detains two suspected Islamic militants

Singapore detains two suspected Islamic militants

Reuters, Singapore

Singapore has detained two more suspected Islamic militants, including the father-in-law of slain Indonesian bomb-maker Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, in connection with a 2001 plot to blow up Western targets, the government said.

The arrests, one made late last year and the other in 2002 but announced on Wednesday, bring to 37 the number of suspected militants detained in Singapore, where officials say a threat from Southeast Asia extremist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) lingers.

"The threat of the JI is not over, even though we have disrupted and broken the JI operation in Singapore," Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told reporters.

One of the detained, Hosnay bin Awi, was trained in the Philippines by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an Islamic militant rebel group, the Ministry of Home affairs said.

The other man, Alahuddeen bin Abdullah, was an MILF soldier who fought against the Philippine army, the ministry said.

He was detained in Singapore in October 2002 but the government only announced his arrest on Wednesday, without saying why it was doing so now.

Both were arrested under Singapore's Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial for up to two years.

Wong said a total of 130 people in Singapore have been investigated for possible links to militant groups since a series of arrests on militants in August 2002 in connection to a 2001 plot to blow up Western targets in the wealthy island.

"We have crippled the local Jamaah Islamiyah and MILF networks," Wong said. "However, it would be naive of us to think that we are out of the woods. The region remains threatened by terrorism and we are not exempted from this threat."

Hosnay, arrested after returning from Indonesia in November, was the father-in-law of al-Ghozi, one of the most wanted men in Asia before he was gunned down by Philippine police last year.

He had fled Singapore during sweeps on Islamic militants in 2001 and 2002 but was found by police in neighboring Indonesia and jailed while working in a shop run by the Jamaah Islamiyah, the Home Affairs statement said.

The Jamaah Islamiyah aims to create an Islamic state encompassing Indonesia and Malaysia, along with parts of Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. Its members were blamed for a deadly bomb attack in Bali in 2002.

Investigators link the group to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

Earlier, state media quoted Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Security and Defense Tony Tan as saying Jamaah Islamiyah was still active in Singapore despite the three- year crackdown on the group.

The government has also put restriction orders on the movement of 12 other people suspected of ties with extremist groups. Under the order they must undergo religious counseling, the Home Affairs ministry said.